


to our beginnings

by narukamiyu



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Gen, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-08-19 01:49:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20201749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/narukamiyu/pseuds/narukamiyu
Summary: Somehow, Jeralt knew that his child's firsts would be different than the other kids'.





	to our beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> spoilers for chapter 9. basically im sad

_ **I.** I’ll keep you safe, kid. _

The smell of smoke wouldn’t leave his clothes, even as they trudged further and further away from the flames of the monastery. It was for the best, he told himself. The circumstances surrounding Byleth’s birth was too suspicious, and her condition was...unnatural.

Was he a bad father for saying that? It was true; his child didn’t cry, didn’t have a heartbeat. But she was clearly alive. 

What had Rhea done?

He paused in his trek and sighed deeply, looking down at the bundle in his arms. Such a fragile baby, but the eyes that peered back at him in the darkness were full of a strength that he couldn’t name. She had remained silent through the chaos, even as the shouting started to accompany the crackling of fire on wood.

“You’re a special one, huh?” Byleth couldn’t talk yet, of course. But Jeralt got the strange feeling that she was still listening. No matter what had happened back at the monastery, this was still his daughter. His wife...had been so happy while pregnant with Byleth. And Jeralt would have to do his best to honor that memory.

“I’ll keep you safe, kid.” 

* * *

_ **II.** That’s the first time I saw you smile. _

Jeralt knew about the whispers. They thought that Byleth was odd, that she was unnatural for not playing around like the other kids and letting loose carefree laughs. 

Sometimes, he wondered if it was his fault. Was this mercenary life too hard on a kid? She hadn’t seen anything too bad yet, but the constant moving around had to be difficult on an impressionable child’s mind. He tried his best, but he knew his best was likely to fall short, considering this was completely new to him. 

Byleth was a quiet child. Quiet, but clever. “Father,” she said one day as he clumsily tucked her in. “Does it bother you?”

“Does what bother me?”

“The villagers don’t like me,” she stated simply. “I don’t…” She trailed off, trying to think of the right words. “Talk. Smile. Laugh.” Despite her calm appearance, Jeralt sensed an inner upset. He sat down next to her on the bed and brushed the hair back from her forehead.

“It doesn’t matter what they think. You express yourself the way that you’re comfortable with. And that’s just fine with me.”

Byleth nodded, message received. And Jeralt’s heart squeezed as he realized that the corners of her lips were lifting up into the smallest smile that he’d ever seen.

It was beautiful.  _ She  _ was beautiful. “That’s the first time I’ve seen you smile.”

“It’s not so hard,” she said, eyes drifting closed. “For you, father.”

Jeralt sat by her side until he was sure she’d fallen asleep. When he got up, it was to step over to the window and watch the moon peek out from behind the clouds. 

“She has your smile,” he murmured to the sky. Sleep wouldn’t claim him for another few hours. 

* * *

_ **III.** To think the first time I see you cry...it would be for me. _

The raindrops were cold on his face, on his body. But the tears of his child burned into his skin, the first and last imprints they would leave on him. He realized that all this time, he had been afraid of what could make Byleth cry. Afraid, and ready to fight it. To make it right.

If only. Regret bloomed in his chest, even as he tried to smile up at his crying daughter.

“To think the first time I see you cry...it would be for me.”

He couldn’t ask to see her smile right now. It would be forced, and he had  _ never  _ forced her to smile. But knowing that she was becoming more open with her emotions, that her students were helping her…

“It’s sad, and yet...I’m happy for it…”

Jeralt memorized her expression, the way her eyes were full of sorrow that he’d never seen before. And he gripped her hand tightly in one last comforting gesture before he became no more.


End file.
